Prequel to Charmed Again
by emaline5678
Summary: Basically this is what I think may have happened in that mysterious gap between seasons three and four. Features Prue, Piper, Phoebe, Cole and Leo. Lots of adventure, angst and drama. There is a death at the end, as we all know.


Prequel to "Charmed Again"

By Emaline5678

_What I think may have happened between that mysterious gap between seasons 3 and 4. Stars Piper, Phoebe, Pru, Cole and Leo. Some action, violence and death. Ye be warned._

_P.S. I do not own "Charmed" or any of its characters. If I did the show would still be on with rockin' storylines. This is just my salute to the show, so thanks to Spelling, Kern and Burge for giving us such a great universe to play with. Cheers!_

The yellow flames crackled and licked each other as they shot up from the torches bolted into the walls of the dank, dark Underworld cave. Phoebe paced the room, her arms crossed over her chest. This was Cole's new home – her new home – her new life. She couldn't believe it. Just this morning she was so focused on saving the man she loved from his demonic self. Now she had to sacrifice her own life to save both her sisters on the surface.

"I still don't trust him," Leo muttered. Phoebe's bother-in-law and the sisters' whitelighter, Leo had never been eager to work with demons. Yet, Phoebe knew he would do anything to save his family.

"Leo, you know it was the only choice we had," Phoebe said with a small smile. They had had this conversation one too many times already in the past few minutes. "To save Piper – I have to stay down here."

At the mention of her sister's name, Leo's face caved again in sorrow and pain. Just minutes ago he had seen his true love, his wife, lying dead in a hospital - her body bloodied and mangled by a bullet - a look of terror and pain on her lovely face. Dead because he hadn't heard her cry for help. The guilt and pain gnawed at him in waves, making him feel as if he'd never be sane again.

"It'll be alright," Phoebe said, soothing Leo with a hug. "The Source will fix this. We'll get her back."

"I don't know," Leo said, choking down his tears and moving away from Phoebe. "I still have a bad feeling about the whole deal. Since when is the Source known for keeping his promises anyway?"

"It's too late now," a voice called from the entrance of the cave. Phoebe turned to see her love, the demon – no, ex-demon now – Cole Turner. His face looked as drawn and weary as Phoebe felt.

"The Source agreed to the deal," Cole said quietly, his blue eyes meeting Phoebe's. "Tempus has already rewound time."

"Good. That's good," Phoebe grinned, over brightly. Neither Leo nor Cole spoke. Cole knew the sacrifice Phoebe was making to stay with him in the underworld. She was giving up her home, her family, her life for him. He loved her with all his soul, but he hated the idea of such a beautiful treasure rotting in hell beside him.

"Right?" Phoebe tried again, fighting down the panic that threatened to swallow her. "Now everything will be back to normal. Good. Leo, maybe you should orb to the surface and tell Piper and Prue what happened. I doubt the Source will let me say goodbye."

"No way am I leaving you here," Leo cried. His hazel eyes flashed angrily. "Something's not right, I'm telling you. I'm not going to leave here without you."

"Leo, I'll be fine," she said, for what felt like the hundredth time. She could feel the pain welling inside of her and she tried to fight it down with both hands. She wanted to go back desperately to her family, but she knew she couldn't have it both ways. Either she could stay with Cole in the underworld or go back to the surface to a dead sister. At least this way her sisters were both alive.

"Please, just go! Don't make it harder then it has to be."

"She's right, Leo," Cole spoke up, moving up behind Phoebe, his black cloak kicking up small dust storms on the floor. "She'll be with me and you know I would never let anything hurt her."

"Go. Please," Phoebe pleaded. Leo frowned, looking form Phoebe and Cole. Finally, he gave Phoebe one last look of caution. Praying he was just still upset after seeing Piper dead, Leo quickly began to orb home. Bluish-white sparkles filled the cave, casting bright light for an instant on the dark rock walls. The lights obscured Leo's body until he and the lights were gone.

When he was gone, Phoebe turned to Cole. He moved to cup her small face in his hands. He looked into her brown eyes, knowing he could see all the way to her heart.

"So now what?" Phoebe murmured, her hand touching Cole's. The fire torches cackled loudly in the quiet cave behind them.

"We start over," he said simply. He tried to smile reassuringly – maybe with Phoebe beside him the Underworld wouldn't seem so bad – being a demon wouldn't be so bad. Perhaps her pure goodness could liven things up around the joint. Yet, something was beginning to bother Cole. Something curled and unfurled inside his stomach, filling him with dread. Things were too quiet.

"Cole, what's wrong?" Phoebe asked, her eyes suddenly fearful. She had felt the sudden change in him. Leo had been right after all, something was terribly wrong –

"Take him!" a harsh voice snarled from the cave entrance. Five demons in brown leather stood with flaming fireballs conjured in their hands. The leader, a tall, long haired chap with a dog's face, pointed at Cole.

"Save the witch! The Source wants her, but kill the traitor!"

The demons fanned out in front of Phoebe and Cole. Without any warning, the goons launched their fireballs. Phoebe ducked and rolled to the ground. Cole hissed in anger and launched fireballs of his own. Two of the demons' bombs hit the ground where Phoebe had stood seconds earlier. Another ricocheted off the wall, killing the demon who had launched it. The other two fireballs hit the empty space where Cole had stood seconds before. Too bad his own bombs had harmlessly hit the opposite wall.

Quickly, Cole shimmered in behind the four remaining demons, punching and kicking at them. Phoebe tackled one of her own, levitating to kick him in the face. Cole then whirled, launching a quick barrage of fireballs that decimated the remaining thugs. They all screamed in agony and quickly burst into flames. The bodies burnt out until nothing remained but piles of ash.

Cole grabbed Phoebe's hand and pulled her to her feet. They quickly ran to the entrance of the cave.

"Come on, I've got to get you out of here," he cried, running through the maze of passageways that made up the Underworld caves. He dragged the frightened witch behind him.

"What? Why?" she cried. She scanned the passage for more demon thugs. She had no power of telekinesis or the ability to freeze time like Prue or Piper, but she could still drop kick with the best of them.

"What's going on?" she demanded of Cole. He kept running, his mouth set into a grim, determined line.

"I have a feeling the Source just reneged on his deal."

"Oh, my God!" Phoebe gasped, stopping in her tracks. "My sisters! That means-"

"That's why we have to get you out of here," Cole cried, spinning to face her and grabbing her arms. "You're dead if you stay here."

"Then come on, let's go," she cried, panic clawing at her heart like a rabid rat. "Shimmer us out of here."

"You know they'll track it," he reasoned with her. Seeing her fear and worry, he quickly pulled her in for a kiss. "I won't let them hurt you. Remember that."

Suddenly, a sphere of fire ricocheted off the stone wall above them. The couple whipped around to see a half dozen leather-clad demons marching towards them.

"There they are!" shouted a tall, blond, scruffy demon with red eyes. "Don't let them escape."

"Time to go!" Cole cried, grabbing Phoebe's arm. She ran with Cole, ducking fireballs that he launched at the charging demon goons. She just prayed to God Cole was wrong about the double-cross. If not, that meant her sisters were dead and – no, she wouldn't believe it. She'd get Cole and herself out of there if she had to dig out a tunnel with her fingernails. Then they'd all live happily ever after on the surface.

Yet, as Phoebe ran with Cole, she couldn't shake the awful, cold feeling in the pit of her heart. Something had gone horribly, horribly wrong.

Leo orbed to the surface of the earth, to the world of light and humanity. Even as a mass of swirling, fluorescent molecules, he still could sense the world around him. He could sense people, their emotions, his other charges, Piper, her sister. That was how he could orb directly to them in an instant - that's how he could hear their cries for help. Yet, for some reason, he could barely sense Piper or her older sister, Prue. Fighting down his panic, he quickly traveled to the manor, normally a home of love and laughter. Now it had a sickly, black odor of death surrounding it.

He landed in the living room of the manor, bluish-white lights swirling around him to form his body until he was solid. The first thing Leo noticed was the deathly silence that filled the house. Terror rising in him, he looked around. The front door was shut, but the glass was shattered to pieces. Broken furniture lay strewn all over the floor like cheap matchsticks.

Horror hit him like a sledgehammer to his heart. As if in slow motion, he turned his head to the left. There, lying in twin pools of dark, red blood lay the bodies of his wife and her sister.

Air gushed out of Leo as he choked on a sob. Springing into action, he stumbled over the broken furniture until he knelt in front of Piper and Prue. He didn't even have time to notice the body of the doctor, an innocent the girls had tried to save from Shax, the Source's top assassin. He lay like a broken rag doll, resting over the broken window pane of the conservatory window.

Leo's hands trembled as he stretched them over the sisters. Closing his eyes, he called on all his inner strength and any extra his bosses, the Elders, could send him. He ached and hoped with his whole body that he wasn't too late. No, he couldn't lose them now. He couldn't, wouldn't lose Piper. He had risked the wrath of heaven to be with her and there was no way a goddamn demon was going to take her away from him now.

Slowly opening his eyes, Leo could see pure, golden healing light issuing from his right hand over Piper. He was a healer and a protector. It had come in handy, since the girls seemed to find a different demon to fight every week. Yet, a few cuts and scrapes were nothing compared to this bloodshed.

Even though his eyes never left the beautiful face of his beloved, Leo could tell something was wrong. Nothing was happening to his left. No warm, yellow light passed from his hand into Prue. The only explanation for that was-

The blood that had pooled beneath Piper's back slowly disappeared back into her body, the cuts and blood faded from her face. Slowly, she blinked open her brown eyes. She moaned, feeling like she had just been crushed by a runaway dump truck.

Piper opened her eyes fully to see her husband kneeling before her, his hands gripping his short, spiky sandy hair. His body shook in sobs. Confused and suddenly afraid, Piper sat up.

"Leo? Leo, what happened? What is it?" she cried, her voice cracking. She had never seen him so upset and it worried the hell out of her. He jerked his head up at the sound of her voice.

"Oh, Piper," he moaned, tears cutting rivers into his cheeks. "Honey, I'm so sorry."

He held onto her leg as sobs took him over again. Terrified, Piper looked around her until her eyes fell upon her sister beside her.

"Prue?" she asked, fear suddenly closing her throat. There was so much blood under Prue, her clothes were soaked in it. Her face was so pale, quiet, peaceful – almost as if she were asleep.

"No, no, no, no, no, no," Piper moaned, taking her sister's broken body in her arms. "No, no no! Wake up, Prue. Come on, honey, wake up! Leo, do something!"

"Piper, I can't," Leo murmured, his body racked with grief and guilt. If only he had orbed faster or if only he hadn't been with Phoebe in the Underworld – he could have saved both Piper and Prue. "It's too late. You know, I can't heal the dead."

"Oh, God, no!" Piper cried, sobs finally breaking from her throat. Her small body shook furiously as the tears spilled over her cheeks, dropping like pearls onto Pure.

Leo moved to hold his wife, but she pushed him away. Angrily, she flicked he brown hair out of her face.

"I don't understand! What – why did this happen? Where's Phoebe?" she cried, looking furiously around her, waiting to see her younger sister's broken, tattered body.

Leo suddenly shook himself, anger filling his insides like fiery coals. He stood up and rubbed his face clean with his hands.

"It was the Source," he spit out. Piper stared up at him, her eyes confused, angry and lost.

"What?' she choked.

"Phoebe and Cole made a deal with the Source. If he turned back time, he could fix this whole mess. Phoebe would have had to stay in the Underworld, but you and Prue would have been ok. You wouldn't have been outed as witches either. Damnit, I knew this whole situation was wrong. We had to be kidding ourselves if we ever thought we could trust the _Source_ of all people."

"Leo, what are you talking about? Can't you see Prue's dead?" Piper cried as Leo angrily punched his fist into a wall. He didn't even flinch from the pain. "Leo?"

He turned to look at Piper's scared, questioning face. Then he remembered she had no memory of the days' events. She had no memory of her and Prue being exposed as witches on national TV. She had no memory of dying in a hospital room, an angry, grief-stricken Prue by her side.

Leo lost the anger in his face as he tenderly knelt next to his wife. He held her and stroked her hair. This time she let him comfort her.

"Don't worry about it," he murmured, swallowing his grief. "I'll fix this. I'll get Phoebe back. I won't let anyone hurt you again.

"Just stay here, Piper. I'll be back as soon as I can," he told her firmly.

"No, you can't leave now," Piper cried. "I need you here with me. I can't handle all of this by myself. I-"

"Honey, I won't be long. I promise you that," he said, kissing her cheek.

Sighing, he stood up, his body orbing into bluish white sparkles until nothing but empty space filled the room.

Piper sobbed and clutched at her sister's body. She had no idea what was going on around her, but she didn't care. Prue Halliwell, sister, friend, photographer, witch was dead. Piper's best friend was gone, just like _that_ – gone in a snap of the fingers, the flash of a camera. Giving into her grief, Piper lowered her face next to Prue's and wept.

In the Underworld, Leo's bluish-white orbs morphed into his body as he landed in a dank, cold cave. Quickly determining no demons were near him, he closed his eyes to sense for Phoebe.

After an instant, they flicked open as he pinpointed her location. She was still alive, but scared and on the run. Taking a deep breath, Leo quickly orbed towards her.

"Phoebe, look out!" Cole shouted. Phoebe hit the dirt as a fireball smashed into the wall behind her. Cole growled and launched his own fireball at the demon goon who had chased them down. It hit its mark and the demon danced vigorously as he caught fire and was vanquished.

Coe picked Phoebe up and quickly pulled her behind a large boulder. They both peeked their heads over the top of the rock. The coast was clear, for now anyway. It wouldn't be for long though.

"This is one of those times I wish I had cooler powers then levitation and premonitions," she said, forcing a laugh. Cole turned quickly to her.

"Phoebe, this isn't time for a joke. I'm telling you, we're going to be slaughtered. The Source will send all of hell after us to kill us if he has to. I'm a traitor now and you're a good witch. Not exactly a winning combination."

"But I'm not leaving you," Phoebe insisted, her brown eyes never leaving his face. "I didn't risk all of this just to lose you again."

Suddenly, the familiar chimes of an orbing entrance sounded behind them. Phoebe looked up as Leo quickly crouched down beside her.

"Leo, what's going on? Piper? Prue?"

"Come on," he said, avoiding her questions. "I need to get you out of here."

"No, I'm not going anywhere till you both tell me what's going on," Phoebe cried, glaring at both men. "Leo?"

Leo's face fell, but he struggled to keep his tears inside. Yet, he still couldn't meet her worried, yearning glaze.

"The Source lied to us, Phoebe. He didn't send anyone to warn Prue and Piper that Shax would be coming."

"Well, that explains the welcome mat," Cole snapped bitterly. Phoebe stared at Leo.

"So," she swallowed thickly. "They're ok?"

"Piper's alive," Leo said slowly, choking on the words. "But the doctor…and Prue-"

He couldn't finish his sentence. Thankfully he didn't have to. Phoebe backed away in horror at what Leo hadn't told her. She couldn't believe her ears. All this had been for nothing. Pure was – gone? She couldn't focus, couldn't comprehend the words.

"That's why I need to get you out of here – get you home," Leo said, taking Phoebe's arm.

"No, I can't believe this."

"Phoebe, get out here," Cole cried. "If the Source catches you, we're all dead. Piper too. Go on, I can take care of myself."

"But-"

"Go on! I'll distract them long enough for you guys to get out of here."

"Promise you'll come back to me," Phoebe begged, her eyes filling with tears. "I can't afford to lose you too."

"You know I can't stay away," Cole replied, tenderly touching Phoebes' cheek. She leaned in suddenly and passionately kissed him. His strong arms encircled her back, pulling her close one last time.

A fireball bounced off the wall about them. Cole broke off the kiss and pushed Phoebe into Leo.

"Get out of here, now!" he shouted. Standing up, he launched a quick succession of fire bombs at the group of deadly demons that had just materialized in front of their rock shelter. Leo grabbed Phoebe and the two of them orbed out of the Underworld.

Cole kept launching fireballs at the demons until the chiming of the orbs had finished behind him. Satisfied his love was safe, Cole sneered at the attacking demons. Giving them a mock salute, he shimmered out of the passageway. Moving on, he hoped he could shake the demon assassins and bounty hunters long enough to see Phoebe again. She was going to soon need him desperately.

Leo and Phoebe landed in the mess that had been their family's living room. Piper continued to sob as she held Prue's lifeless body. Phoebe stared in horror, the fact that none of them could save Prue hitting her like a slap across the face. She sagged to the floor, her legs collapsing underneath her.

"Piper, I'm so sorry-"

"How could you leave us?" Piper shouted at Phoebe. "How could you leave?"

Phoebe opened her mouth to explain, but shut it again as she realized no words could heal Piper's grief.

As sirens began to wail in the distance, Piper cradled Prue's lifeless body in her arms. Her sobs filled the quiet house as Phoebe knelt beside her in shock. Leo sat nearby in an unbroken chair, his head resting in his hands.

Grief clutched at the heart of the Halliwells. It echoed the crying wails of the sirens of the police and ambulance. No words could silence it or cure it – only many, many days of tears.

THE END


End file.
